Treatment of textile and other materials



Dec. 9, 1941. H. DREYFUS TREATMENT OF TEXTILE AND OTHER MATERIALS Filed Feb. 21', 1939 H-DREYFUS Inventor Attorney Patented Dec. 9, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TREATMENT OF TEXTILE AND OTHER MATERIALS Henry Dreyfus, London, England Application February 21, 1939, Serial No. 257,643 in Great Britain March 16, 1938' a Glaims.

terials through a hot liquid medium contained in a vessel which alsocontains heating means for maintaining the temperature of the medium and one or more shields so positioned as to protect the materials from disturbance due to the heating means. The best arrangement is one in which heating means is positioned onone or, preferably, both sides of the materials and a substan-' tially vertical shield is interposed between the path of the materials and each heating means.

It is not necessary according to this arrangement that the heating means should lie between the horizontal planes passing through the topand bottom of the shield. It may, as shown in the drawing, lie below the bottom plane, and the expression interposed between is to be understood as including such an arrangement. The shield should howeverbe of such dimensions and so positioned that upward streams of bubbles or currents of liquid are pretented from coming into contact with the-materials and that the heated liquid produced by the heating means can pass overthe top of the shield into contact with the materials and then underneath the shield back to the heating means. In this manner a continuous circulation of heated liquid may be maintained without resort to any mechanical circulating device and at the same time disturbance of the materials due to liquid currents may be reduced. The invention is of particular value when the heating means consists of steam or other vapour .which is introduced directly into the treatment liquid, but it is also applicable when other heating means are employed, for example when closed coils are employed through which steam or other heated fluid is circulated or when the temperature is maintained by'introducing hot treatment liquid into the vessel.

. The process may be carried out with the treatment vessel full of liquid. I have however discovered that it is advantageous, particularly from the point of view of maintaining the liquid at a uniform temperature, to have an atmosphere of the vapour of the liquid medium above the surface of the liquid medium in the treatment vessel. The vessel may, for example, be only about or full of liquid medium.

As stated above, it is preferable to employ a contact with the materials. Preferably the shields are fairly close to the'materials being treated and their bottoms may be, for example,

2 or 3 inches from thebase of the vessel while their tops may, for example, be 1 to 5 or 6 inches or more below the surface of the liquid in the vessel.

While, as stated above, the best results are obtained when the heating means is positioned on one or both sides of the materials and vertical shields are employed between the heating means and the materials, the invention is not limited to such a process or apparatus. For example, a heating means may be positioned below the path of the materials travelling in a substantially horizontal path and a shield, e. g. wire gauze or a perforated plate, positioned between the heating means and the materials or the materials may be surrounded by a U-shaped or'circular shield which is provided with perforations to allow of the free circulation of the liquid.

The present invention includes not only processes in which materials are stretched or otherwise treated in hot liquid media as described above but also apparatus for. carrying out the above processes provided with one or more shields positioned between the path of the materials and the heating means. The apparatus preferably comprises an end pressure chamber such as is described in U. S. Patents Nos. 2,142,909 and 2,142,910 through which the materials pass before entering the stretching or other treatment vessel and it should be provided with inlet and outlet orifices for the materials and with means for supplying liquid to the treatment vessel so as to make up for liquid lost through the orifices for the materials and for maintaining the liquid level in the vessel constant. This means is preferably so positioned thatthe liquid is introduced on the side ofthe shield remote from the path of the materials. Preferably any liquid supplied to the vessel for this purpose is previously heat- Apparatus in accordance with the present inceeding, for example, from a creel, pass through inlets 3 into an end chamber 4 in contact with positively driven feed rollers 5. The end chamher is provided with an inlet l for inert fluid, a

pressure gauge l2, a pressure release valve l3 and a fluid release valve l4. From the end chamber the yarns pass through orifices 6 into the treatment vessel 1 which is also illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. This vessel contains a perforated coil I0 for the introduction of hot water or other treatment fluid to maintain the level of the fluid in the vessel, a perforated coil H for th introduction of steam or other heating fluid and vertical shields [5. It is provided with a gauge glass l6 for observing the water level in the vessel. From the treatment vessel .the materials pass through orifices 8 to a pair of positively driven feed rollers 9 and thence to a take-up device.

The present invention is particularly applicable to the stretching of artificial yarns, films and similar products made of cellulose acetate or other organic derivative of cellulose in hot water but it may also be employed in other processes carried out with the aid of hot liquid media, for example shrinking and saponification processes, and also in the treatment of other yarns, films and similar products e. g. yarns made of other thermoplastic substances. Processes of the above character are described in U. S. Patents Nos. 2,142,721, 2,142,722, 2,142,909 and 2,142,910 and the conditions employed may be similar to those described in these specifications. For example, cellulose acetate yarns may be stretched in hot water at a temperature of 130135 or 140 C.

in anapparatus according to the present inven-- tion which comprises an end pressure chamber containing air or cold water at a pressure substantially the same as that existing in the stretching vessel, e. g. 1 or 2 lbs./sq. in. below this pressure.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

' interposed between 'the path of the materials and theheatingmeans in such a manner that the upward movement in the liquid arising from the heating occurs on one side of said shield and the path of th materials is on the other side of said shield, at least one outlet orifice formed in said vessel for the passage of the materials, and a second positively driven forwarding device adapted to draw'the materials'through-the hot liquid medium at a higher rate of travel than that at which they enter the medium.

2. Apparatus for the stretching of yarns,

superatmospheric pressure, comprising a pressure vessel for hot liquid medium, inlet and outlet orifices formed. in the walls of said vessel for the'passage of the materials through the vessel, positive forwarding. devices adapted to feed the' materials into the vessel and to draw them from" the vessel at a higher rate of travel than the feed rate, a shield partitioning the vessel, and

on one side of the shield and the inlet and outlet orifices being so-disposedthat the path of thematerials lies on the other side of the partition. 3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the shield is duplicated to divide the vessel into threecompartments, the heating means being so disposed that upward movement of the liquid arising from the heating occurs in the two outer compartments, and the inlet and outletv orifices being.

so disposed that the path of the materials is through the center compartment.

foils; and similar materials in hot liquid media under: 

